


Three Proverbs for Dark Days

by HardNoctLife



Series: IgNoct Week 2019 - HardNoctLife [5]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Angst, Blind Ignis Scientia, Canon Universe, Chapter nine, Conversations, During Canon, Emotional, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fate & Destiny, Feelings, Gen, Ignoct Week, Ignoct Week 2019, POV First Person, Ring of the Lucii (Final Fantasy XV), Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-07-31 10:40:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20113765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HardNoctLife/pseuds/HardNoctLife
Summary: IgNoct Week 2019 Day 5: “Blind!Ignis touching Noctis”After the events at the Altar of the Tidemother, Ignis and Noctis share a moment together lamenting the cruelty of fate.





	Three Proverbs for Dark Days

The old adage holds true: _you don’t know what you have until it’s gone_.

When I made my choice to don the ring of the Lucii, I had no idea what the true repercussions of my actions would be. My life was a small price to pay to ensure Noctis’s safety, but my _sight_? That was another notion entirely, and one I had horribly underprepared for.

The first morning of darkness was a bitter pill to swallow, anxiety and doubt snaking its way into the depths of my heart and taking root—a poisonous seed that would soon spread throughout my body, impossible to shake free.

The burden of the future I had seen was burned forever into my soul even as blindness hindered me, weighing on my person as we continued our journey.

Above all else, I knew one truth remained: I had to help Noctis fulfill his destiny as the True King, even if it meant sacrificing my future in the process. The world depended on it.

So, I would do as I always had, and stand by my prince’s side, through darkness and ruin, even to my own detriment.

* * *

“Ignis?”

I lifted my head and tried to orient myself, vague shapes shifting in my newly darkened vision. There was a _creak_ and the soft _thud-thud-thud_ of footsteps. Pushing myself upright, I gathered the blankets around my waist with a _swish_. Even though I had fallen asleep in my clothes, I felt an unusual chill come over me.

The bed sighed with added weight and a warm hand found mine, calloused fingers rubbing over the backs of my knuckles.

_Prompto_, I thought. The way he trembled slightly in his concern was a dead giveaway. I forced a smile.

“Time to leave already?” I could have sworn I had set an alarm, but I had no way of reading the buttons, only inputting the time from sheer muscle memory. A mistake had inevitably been made if Prompto had been sent to retrieve me.

_Ah, well._ _Better luck next time. _

“Uh, yeah. We wanted to let you sleep.”

The silence stretched. I imagined Prompto fidgeting nervously, tugging at his gloves, or maybe wrapping a finger around one of his fly-away hairs. He never did know how to sit still. Reaching for his hands, I found them clasped firmly on his knees, clenched with tension. I ran my fingers over the leather that covered his knuckles.

There was a soft inhalation of breath. Something had gone unsaid, and I struggled to put a name to the sensation that now settled in my gut.

_We._ He meant him and Gladio.

“Where is Noctis?”

Another silence, this one more fraught than the last. I began to swing my feet over the edge of the bed, only to feel him cling to my night shirt, tugging insistently.

“He’s still—” I noted the undulation in Prompto’s tone, the hesitation. He was trying to protect me from something, and I had to squash the feeling of resentment that rose in my chest.

I was not a man to be coddled. I was still the advisor to the crown Prince of Lucis.

When I stumbled over something of the floor and tumbled, landing with a _crash_, I heard Prompto yelp, arms immediately wrapping around me in support. My elbows and knees ached from where they had connected with the hard wood, but I pushed him away, masking my embarrassment with action.

“I’m quite all right,” I insisted. My voice sounded shaky, even in my own ears.

_I need to work on that_, I noted.

“Here, we got you this.”

Something long and smooth was pressed into my hand—a walking cane, it felt like. I held it out tentatively, a _tap_ sounding as it collided with the solid ottoman I had barreled into. More carefully this time, I took a step forward, using the implement to sweep the area in front of me for obstacles.

“Could you take me to him?” I strained to listen for an answer, Prompto still gripping me by one arm.

“…okay,” he finally said, reluctant.

I trusted Prompto to take me to Noctis’s room in Lady Claustra’s estate. It had only been a few days since the tragic events at the Tidemother’s Altar, and all of us were in a mourning period of sorts. I knew that Noctis had taken the news of Lady Lunafreya’s death hard. After all, I had been the one to deliver the news. And yet…

“He hasn’t left his room since you told him,” Prompto explained, stopping me abruptly before I could twist the doorknob. “Gladio tried to get him to come out, and…well.”

I read between the lines.

“I see. Allow me to speak with him,” I offered. Prompto’s fingers twitched where they were curled about my wrist.

“Iggy, he’s not himself.” The blond’s voice was subdued—quiet. My heart ached for what we all had lost. For what the world had lost. Then, steeling myself, I pushed the door aside.

“Wait here.”

I tried to remember the layout of the room from where I had entered it mere days ago. There were two high-backed chairs in the front area, a low table between them, then a large archway that led to a bed, dressers flanking it on either side. My cane confirmed my mental image as I took measured steps into the bedroom, stopping when I hit the foot of the bed.

“Noctis?”

There was no response.

I felt along the sheets, the rich fabric silky and cool beneath my palm. Eventually I found the solid form of a body beneath the duvet and sat, taking in a deep breath.

“Noct.” I said it more firmly and was rewarded with a shifting of limbs, a _rustle_ sounding with the movement. “It’s time to get up.”

I wasn’t prepared for the icy hand that found mine, clinging as if for dear life. Even without my vision, the world seemed to tilt on its axis, and I had to shoot my free arm out to steady myself. Warily, I brought my limb across my body, feeling over the delicate skin of Noctis’s exposed upper half.

There were no words shared as I trailed up his toned arm to his face, tracing the firm bone of his jaw. I could feel his eyes flutter closed, lashes brushing my knuckles. There was a dampness to his cheeks. He had been crying.

_Astrals help me._

“Ignis.” His voice was gravelly and rough—painful. I felt my resolve waver.

There was a tug from the prince, and suddenly I was toppling sideways, landing with a _poof_ on the soft bed, heads knocking together. _Smack_! I winced from the spark of pain, then froze, suddenly aware of the warm breath brushing my neck, a nose pushing into my collar bone.

“Highness…” My arms enfolded Noctis as if of their own free will, my heart aching down to my bones. He curled closer as if he intended to absorb me into himself, desperate for closeness.

He had lost so much in such a short span of time, and I hadn’t been able to stop the tide of fate from drowning us both.

It was my greatest failing—something I would never forgive myself for.

We laid there for an indeterminate amount of time, our breaths falling into sync. Noctis never loosened his hold. 

“I can’t do this,” he cried. I could feel my heart shattering into pieces, the jagged edges embedding in my lungs and making it difficult to breathe.

“You have to try.” It wasn’t enough, and I knew it, but the darkness I was experiencing was merely a fraction of what was to come. If Noctis couldn’t remain strong, all of us were doomed. “I’m here.” That too, was not enough, but it was all I had to offer.

“_Why_? Why me? Why Luna? What did we do to deserve this?”

_Life’s not fair._ That old adage was also painfully true.

“I don’t want to be king,” he moaned, continuing to rail against the gods and the world that had turned its back on him.

“I know.” I whispered, tears threatening. I couldn’t afford to break—not now.

I ran a hand through Noctis’s hair, remembering its raven hue. I pictured his storm cloud eyes, shades of gray—sometimes blue when the light hit them just right. The way his lips pursed and pouted, soft and alluring. The smooth lines of his face.

I would never see him smile again.

Death would have been kinder than this. Truly, the gods were laughing at us.

I pressed a kiss to the top of his head as my prince sobbed into my shirt, and I held him, at a loss. Sometimes simply being is best. Eventually, the tears ebbed and I listened as the devolved into quiet sniffles as Noctis sought to compose himself.

“No matter how dark the night gets, the sun will always rise again.” I put as much confidence as I could muster behind the words, praying that they would worm their way into Noctis’s mind for when he would need them most. “We cannot move back, only forward. One step at a time, we will get through this—_together_.”

There was a shuddering breath as Noctis inhaled, shallow at first, then deeper with a second try.

“You can’t even see the sun,” he pointed out miserably. There was a deep hurt in the statement, laced with guilt and regret, the unspoken acknowledgement that he blamed himself for what had occurred.

“No,” I agreed slowly. I did my best to smile, my gift to him. It wasn't much, but it would have to do for now.

_It’s all right._

Bringing my head down so that our foreheads touched once more, I filled my lungs with air, the prince’s body heat warming me.

“It’s true, I cannot see it, but I _can_ feel it.”

One more adage came to my mind then.

_It is always darkest before the dawn. _

**Author's Note:**

> ...Noctis is Ignis's sunshine.
> 
> This author responds to all comments! Feel free to talk to me directly on Tumblr (hard-noct-life) and Twitter (@HardNoctLife)
> 
> Art by AceFlorins (@aceflorins, Tumblr/Twitter)


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